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PC-8800

PC-8800 icon PC-8800 logo

Overview

NEC’s PC-8800 line (PC-88) debuted in 1981 and became one of Japan’s most prolific microcomputers. Adventures, shooters and visual novels leaned heavily on its FM sound hardware and tens of thousands of titles were released for the platform. REG-Linux keeps the pc88 system group separate so artwork and metadata stay focused.

Quick reference

  • ROM folder: /userdata/roms/pc88
  • Accepted formats: .d88, .u88, .m3u
  • Emulator: libretro: quasi88 via RetroArch
  • System group: pc88

Technical specifications

  • CPU: Zilog Z80A at 4 MHz with dedicated I/O for keyboard/disk control.
  • Memory: 64 KB RAM on board, expandable with NEC memory boards plus a 32 KB ROM for BASIC.
  • Display: µPD7220-style graphics capable of 640×400 pixels and eight hardware colors with drawing primitives.
  • Sound: Yamaha YM2203 chipset with three FM channels plus three PSG channels for music and effects.

ROMs

Place disk images (.d88 or .u88) and .m3u playlists in /userdata/roms/pc88. RetroArch/QUASI88 scans this directory to populate the gamelist; keep the files zipped unless a game refuses to boot.

BIOS

QUASI88 requires a full set of BIOS ROMs located in /userdata/bios/quasi88/. The core checks for the following filenames (MD5s given for reference) to emulate the correct PC model:

Checksum Filename Description
4f984e04a99d56c4cfe36115415d6eb8 N88.ROM ROM 0
793f86784e5608352a5d7f03f03e0858 N88SUB.ROM ROM 1
2ff07b8769367321128e03924af668a0 N88N.ROM ROM 2
d675a2ca186c6efcd6277b835de4c7e5 N88EXT0.ROM ROM 3
e844534dfe5744b381444dbe61ef1b66 N88EXT1.ROM ROM 4
6548fa45061274dee1ea8ae1e9e93910 N88EXT2.ROM ROM 5
fc4b76a402ba501e6ba6de4b3e8b4273 N88EXT3.ROM ROM 6

Emulators

RetroArch

RetroArch launches libretro: quasi88. The Quick Menu ([HOTKEY] + south button) offers master controls for shaders/overrides, and EmulationStation exposes options such as pc88.gfxbackend, pc88.audio_latency and pc88.video_threaded.

libretro: quasi88

QUASI88 is the strategy-accurate port that uses the BIOS files above. Notable core settings:

  • global.q88_basic_mode: picks between the N88 BASIC variants.
  • global.q88_cpu_clock: lets you underclock (1/2 MHz) or overclock up to 64 MHz for developer experiments.
  • global.q88_pcg-8100: enables the optional character generator when a title requires it.

Controls

The default overlay in ../images/controller-overlays/pc88.png shows the keyboard matrix so you can press the emulated keys without a real PC-88 board.

Troubleshooting

  • Verify the BIOS ROM set is complete and placed under /userdata/bios/quasi88/.
  • If a disk image fails to start, extract the archive and try the raw .d88/.u88 file.
  • Consult the generic support pages for additional assistance.